“The Obama administration is once again protecting the Bush abuses which its supporters thought would now be long gone.”

The state security apparatus which came into being during the Bush administration is now supported just as strongly, if not more so, under president Barack Obama. There has been no let up, no change in course for a system which becomes stronger with each passing day and which faces almost no political opposition.

The Obama justice department recently asserted that it can withhold classified information from a federal judge. Federal judges have security clearances and are permitted to see classified information in cases brought before them. The Obama justice department says that only the executive branch has the power to determine what information courts ought to have. The government attorney asserted, “There is no right for the plaintiff to give the court classified information at all.” The federal judge was so stunned that she described herself as “literally speechless” over the government claim that she ought to be kept in the dark.

The case in question is a remnant of the worst abuses brought about by the Bush administration, involving the kidnapping and rendition of Muslim cleric Abu Omar in Milan, Italy in 2003. A former CIA operative with State Department cover is now suing the federal government because it did not protect her right to diplomatic immunity. That operative was found guilty in absentia in an Italian court and faces arrest should she ever travel to Europe again. Now the Obama administration is once again protecting the Bush abuses which its supporters thought would now be long gone.


“Candidate Obama said he would protect the rights of whistle blowers, but now as president he tries to send them to jail.”

This is not the only instance of the current justice department moving forward with Bush administration prosecutions. Thomas Drake is a former employee of the National Security Administration now charged with violating the Espionage Act. He faces 35 years in prison, having been accused of giving documents to a reporter. Candidate Obama said he would protect the rights of whistle blowers, but now as president he tries to send them to jail. The Obama administration has brought five Espionage Act prosecutions to court, more than all other past administrations combined.

Not content to defend Bush era abuses, and send whistle blowers to jail, Obama and Congress have extended the Patriot Act, without changes, yet again. Two Democratic members of the intelligence committee, Ron Wyden and Mark Udall, were not only among those who voted no, but they also exposed how the act is being interpreted in a new and dangerous way by the administration. The Obama justice department has decided to interpret the act in a way which it will not reveal to the public. In other words, the government has a secret way of determining what is and isn’t legal but will not share that secret with congress or with the people. Orwell and Kafka would find new sources of inspiration with this president.

When George W. Bush was president, I and many others often used the word fascism to describe the growth of government powers and the diminution of our rights. Now that those very same assertions of executive power are being made by Barack Obama, should we not continue to raise the same concerns?

“We are told that we still have to fight endless wars and that we can’t ever get our rights back.”

The sad fact is that the surveillance state has strong bi-partisan support and it is likely to only expand. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 were the impetus for the Patriot Act and wars of aggression, but events which ought to signal a return to normalcy never do. The death of Osama bin Laden was supposed to make us safer. That is what we have been told for nearly ten years.
Now that he is dead we are told that his death proves the need to continue doing away with civil liberties. We are told that we still have to fight endless wars and that we can’t ever get our rights back.

Attorney General Eric Holder summed it all up for us. "Now more than ever, we need access to the crucial authorities in the Patriot Act." Perhaps we were better off when bin Laden was still alive.

Conservative Bill Kristol hit the nail on the head when he called Barack Obama a “born again neo-con.” Kristol had reason for this high praise after the president sought out his advice before telling the world that he intended to make war against Libya. The right wing who Democrats use to keep unqualified support in their ranks are now getting off-line access to the man we are told must be protected from them. Of course that doesn’t make any sense, and neither do efforts to come to Obama’s defense on civil liberties or on any other issues either.

http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/freedom-rider-obama-surveillance-state

had barrak promised in the campaign he'd do some of the things he's done since he was sworn in i likely would have voted for the sob. the patriot act is needed legislation during these times.

The Patriot act is bull crap and it totally destroys your rights giving all the power to government. You have given away your rights and your freedoms.

They love people like you who believe their lies that the Patriot act is needed. I can't believe that you and other people have all cowed down to government and given your freedom away after so many have died for it.

The government now has the right to kidnap people, assassinate people, arrest people without rights etc. Basically they have ultimate power to do anything they damn well please. And its all 'legal.'

"These times" have become these times because of the criminals who have infiltrated and run our banking systems and our country.

Yes I can see all the change.

Obama is just another puppet...
How can anyone believe in conspiracy theories and still
think Obama has any control over ANYTHING.....

You are absolutely right.

But I am so sick of puppets.

I wish there was someone who would stand up and speak out against the evil who pull the strings with blackmail and bribery.

which rights and freedoms am i now deprived of???



none of what you say here is correct according to the patriot act.



"these times" have become these times because of criminals, it's true. now we have the patriot act to counteract those criminals. who has infiltrated to run our banking systems, much less our country??? obama is president. the democrats have run the congress for most of the years the patriot act has been in force. are you saying it's obama and the democrates who've infiltrated and run the banking system and the congress since the patriot act was passed???

I think Jeannie can sum things up a bit better than me, but I can tell you one right you are deprived of, that being the right to privacy. You realize that under the Patriot Act it is LEGAL for them to wiretap your phone calls, to SPY on you? Maybe you don't have a problem with that, but I do, what I talk about to people I know is none of their business, period.

Funny isnt it we still have drugs getting into the country. What a waste of funds and freedoms.

You have no clue do you? Most people don't.

All I can say is... we are doomed.

In London people are abducted on the street and never seen again.
That will soon be happening here.

They can arrest you and hold you in a secret prison without letting your family know where you are and without letting you call anyone or have a lawyer if they decide for some reason that you are a "domestic terrorist."

It could even be as a result of a mistaken identity.

You think this government protects you? Wait until the crap hits the fan, or a really huge disaster happens. Guess where your government will be? Hiding in their underground bunkers.

This. Furthermore.....if you really think this war on terror is about terrorists......I suggest you think again. Ask yourself, why is it that every single time something happens or is possibly going to happen, it is US that have to be punished for it, it is US that have our rights and freedoms restricted more and more with each event. Ask yourself, why does it seem like this will never ever end. There's a good reason for it, that being they needed a reason to take our rights from us. They needed something that would get us scared enough so that we would comply with whatever they wanted, and this "war on terror" they concocted fit the bill quite nicely.

(They love "terrorists" because they ARE the terrorists.)

On a side note, I was watching the news today while over at my Mom's house and they talked about Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner for a very lengthy time. (Sex scandle... big deal.)

I kept thinking.... WHO THE HELL CARES ABOUT THIS NEWS???

Makes me think that the news media is so gagged these days about what they can report on that when they are given a scrap of news they gorge themselves on it.

Also makes me think there is something else going on in the world that "they" don't want us to know about.

Verry true.

Nothing new there........that's long since been going on.

Yes, but the trick is to find out what is REALLY GOING ON right now that they want to distract us from.

I wouldn't ever vote for him, but I applaud this and the keeping of G-Bay open, eventhough he promised to get rid of both.

You have nothing to fear if your doing nothing wrong.

Anyone who freaks out about the Patriot Act has something to hide.

That is simply NOT True.


That only applies assuming that the government is not corrupt.

It is corrupt to a great extent.

And it will get a lot worse.

In Hitler's Germany, you had nothing to fear as long as you were a loyal supporter of the dictator in charge.

It will be the same with the New World Order.

Jesus, there is not and never will be a New World Order.

We as a world can not get along with eachother and will NEVER for a one world government.